1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a movable ocean launching apparatus which is capable of launching a space rocket at an optimum location on the ocean.
2. Description of the Related Art
The idea of launching a space rocket on the ocean is never novel apart from missile launching from a ship. However, at present, there is no practical means other than a launcher which utilizes a scaffold of a jack-up platform type whose leg is fixed at the bottom of the ocean. If the space-rocket launcher of the jack-up platform type is to be installed in the ocean, in case the depth of water at a launching site is greater than the length of the leg of a jack, it is impossible to install the space-rocket launcher. The space-rocket launcher cannot necessarily be installed at an optimum location and it follows that space rockets may not always be launched in optimum conditions. For example, it is impossible to launch space rockets on international waters having great depth of water, particularly international waters near or under the equator which are suitable for the launching of space rockets. As described above, the space-rocket launcher of the conventional jack-up platform type has the disadvantage that the range of freedom to select a launching site is extremely limited, and it is impossible to satisfactorily utilize various advantages of ocean launching.
For these reasons, the desired form of ocean launcher for space rockets is of a float type. However, when the oscillation of a hull body due to waves is considered, such a float type of ocean launcher for space rockets is not suitable for combination with a so-called ordinary ship, and there is no choice but to use a semi-submersible type of space-rocket launcher in which the oscillation of its hull due to waves can be minimized. Various proposals have been made with respect to the idea of such a semi-submersible launcher for space rockets, but none of the proposals is realized. It is conceived that the primary reason is that all the conventional proposals have been directed to only the arrangement of a launcher without taking into account a method of carrying out a series of heavy operations or the facilities and equipment required to implement the method. The heavy operations involve, for example, the step of carrying a launcher from a factory to an optimum launching site on the ocean and the step of carrying a space rocket to be launched from the factory to the launcher installed at the optimum launching site, or the problems of how to load, if the waves are high, the space rocket onto the launcher which has been carried over the ocean, and of how to launch the space rocket in such an unfavorable condition.
Even if a space rocket can be successfully launched, it will scatter noise and smoke around. In addition, since the space rocket which completes predetermined tasks fall onto an unspecified place, an extremely wide area around the launching site must be designated as a restricted area. It will therefore be natural that the launching of space rockets be called a kind of process for producing environmental destruction. If the launching of a space rocket should fail, a number of serious dangers will be encountered; for example, the space rocket is likely to explode or deviate from the trajectory. In such a case, it is necessary to destruct the failed space rocket. For these reasons, a vast control area is required for the launching of a space rocket.
Fortunately, the launching of space rockets in Japan has not yet encountered a serious failure and no substantial problem has been presented except for dangers which may occur when a space rocket falls down after the completion of predetermined tasks and the influences excised on nearby fisheries by large noise, intense flash light or the like which accompany launching. However, in the United States of America, a number of serious failures of launching have been reported. In particular, in the case of the failure of launching of a Titan rocket at the base of the United States Air Force in Vandenberg in California, Spring, 1986, Aerodin--a deadly poisonous propellant--was scattered by explosion to destroy natural environments over a vast area, and seriously adversely affected the neighboring fauna and flora. For the above and other reasons, California and the United States of America gave effect to extremely strict and complicated laws and regulations concerning atmospheric pollution, explosives and combustibles, water resources, noise, and influences on the fauna and flora. As is reported, regarding the next generation large space rocket "Advanced Launch System . . . ALS" which is being developed primarily by the United States Air Force at the Vandenberg air force base, land-based launching has been abandoned and ocean-based launching is under consideration. To cope with these problems, the present inventor has previously acquired U S. Pat. No. 4,747,334, entitled "OCEAN LAUNCHING APPARATUS OF SPACE ROCKET".
However, the invention of the prior application has a number of problems. For example, the prior invention utilizes a method including: accommodating a space-rocket launcher into a large exclusive ship such as a floating dock which floats in a semi-submerged state on the ocean; and causing the exclusive ship to float up to hold the launcher for carrying purposes. As a result, even if the scale of the above ocean launcher is reduced for the purpose of launching small rockets, it is difficult to substantially reduce the undue costs and expenses of the apparatus itself. Also, when a semi-submersible type of launcher for space rockets is to be carried on the ocean, the following three methods have heretofore been selectively available. The first method is called wet tow in which a space-rocket launcher is towed on the ocean; the second method utilizes a submersible barge such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,334; and the third method is called dry tow in which a space-rocket launcher is loaded on a heavy-cargo carrier capable of similar float on/off operations. If a space-rocket launcher is to be carried by the wet tow method, limitations are imposed to the transportation of a space rocket, a launch control room and associated facilities such as accommodations to a launching site and the launch operation of preparing and launching a space rocket at the launching site. Ships for dry-tow purposes are generally costly and, each time the space-rocket launcher is loaded and unloaded by a float on/float off method, the deck of the barge or the carrier is submerged. Accordingly, a rocket hangar and the facilities and equipment required to proceed a series of launching operations cannot be installed directly on the deck, and a ship for carrying these facilities must be separately prepared. Otherwise, the facilities and equipment must be constructed as complicated float structures so that they can be loaded and unloaded together with the space-rocket launcher in a float on/float off method. This leads to an increase in the total running cost of the rocket launcher.